1. Field of the Invention
This invention improves the assembly process for a panoramic-view diving mask, enabling easier replacement of a broken or scratched lens or optical-correction lens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A diver's mask may include one or more lenses. More recently lenses on each side of the single- or double-frontal-lens mask have been incorporated to enhance the diver's peripheral vision, thus creating a panoramic viewing of the surrounding environment. In the prior art, to achieve this viewing advantage, manufacturers have typically used a permanent adhesive to bond the side and frontal lenses together to form a watertight seal at the lens joint. Though conventional panoramic-view diving masks are popular in the market, gluing the lenses together entails some distinct disadvantages for manufacturers and consumers (or end users).
For the end user, the replacement of a broken or scratched lens, or the change of a prescribed optical-correction lens, cannot be done without causing permanent damage to the bonded edges of the assembled lenses, perhaps even rendering the mask non-water-tight. For the manufacturer, high costs are associated with the pre-bonding of the front and side lenses to create three-dimensional lens configurations (usually as L or U configurations) necessary before the lenses can be assembled to the mask frame.
In an improvement on conventional panoramic-view diving mask having pre-bonded lens assembly, a new method of lens assembly was developed using self-sealing, non-glued removable watertight lenses that could enable the manufacturer and the end user to easily replace damaged lenses. In this type of improved diving mask, both the front and side lenses are removable. Having removable front and side lenses allow for easy replacement of damaged lenses.
However, it is not always necessary or desirable to have both the front and side lenses be removable. In actual use it is often only the front lenses that are susceptible to being damaged because the front lenses are large and are most exposed by their forward orientation. The side lenses are less susceptible to damage and, thus, do not often require replacement.
Fore the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a panoramic-view diving mask with seal-sealing, non-glued removable front lenses and side lenses integrally formed with the frame body of the mask.